A Life Worth Living
by Ashliebelle
Summary: Herm POV Follow Hermione on her journey to Hogwarts, leaving her family, and enduring the pain of being rejected. Was Hogwarts the best choice for her, or would she have been better off not being a witch?
1. At the library

The public library was really the only place Hermione felt at ease. She could curl up in a corner and finish her math homework, or devour a classic novel with no interruptions.  
  
Now, she sat reading poetry by Emily Dickinson. Her books didn't call her childish names like 'teacher's pet' or 'know-it-all', but fueled her active mind... and yet... something was missing. She felt a sense of emptiness that her literature couldn't fill; a sense of unfinished business, which was odd, because she was only 11 years old.  
  
Dickinson's words wrapped her into a quiet state of mind, like a warm blanket on a chilly night. Hermione didn't even notice the brown owl outside the window, awake in broad daylight. It dropped the paper it was carrying in its beak through the crack in the window, and it magically floated onto the arm of Hermione's chair.  
  
The soft sound created by the paper landing on the wooden arm woke Hermione from her bemused reading.  
  
"How curious," she thought as she examined the letter; it had to be a letter, because it was addressed to her clearly in green writing and sealed with a wax seal.  
  
Hermione began to rip the heavy envelope open, when she hesitated... how curious...  
  
Strange and unexpected things always seemed to happen around her, and always ended up reflecting bad on herself. Once at school, tired with all the immature remarks following her down the corridors, Hermione threw her books to the ground in pent-up fury. Below her, on the first floor where the younger children had classes, all the ceiling lights expelled bright sparks and exploded. She spent long hours in the headmaster's room attempting to explain what happened...  
  
The heavy letter sat in her hand, halfway opened. She wasn't sure how something like a strange letter might give her as much grief as those books had, but she didn't want anything that bad to happen again.  
  
And yet... the letter seemed to have something good about it; an aura of something magical akin to what Hermione had felt in the past few years of her life.  
  
She tore the envelope open, and unfolded the letter:  
  
Dear Ms. Granger... 


	2. I want to be a Witch

"Mum! Dad! You won't believe this!" Hermione burst into her quiet house. She knew for sure her parents wouldn't believe it, she could barely comprehend it herself.  
  
"What's wrong, Hermione?" her father asked, lowering his newspaper to glance up at his daughter.  
  
"Nothing's wrong!" she said, "but look at this..." She handed him the letter and skipped over to the sofa next to her mother. She studied her father's reaction carefully, unknowing of what he would say or do. He remained silent after finishing the letter and handing it to his wife. A look of utter disbelief was cemented onto his face.  
  
She knew what he was thinking, her own mind worked a lot like his. 'Hermione a.... a witch?' she was sure he was saying to himself, 'How could it be?'  
  
Before he could say anything, Hermione reminded him of all the strange things that happened to her. The letter said 'odd things can happen when the seemingly non-magical child is angry or scared,' like the time when Hermione's father examined her teeth (he was a dentist) and found a cavity. After a lecture about the dangers of eating sweets, he gathered up his drill and other dental supplies and turned to repair her tooth... but, which tooth was it? They all seemed fine when he tried to find the cavity again. It was like the cavity magically disappeared.  
  
"Can I go to Hogwarts? Please!?" Hermione requested, after convincing her parents it wasn't a prank. "I know I'll be far away, but I really think it's the right thing for me."  
  
Her mother sighed, then gave her daughter a small smile. "I think, Hermione, that you are old enough to make a choice like this on your own."  
  
Hermione saw the indecision in her mother's eyes, and the lingering disbelief in her father's. Hermione knew exactly what she wanted to say... but couldn't say it. She wanted desperately to laugh and skip and say 'Of course! I would LOVE to go!' but what would her parents think? It would be like a slap in the face to them, Hermione thought. 'Thanks Mom and Dad for letting me choose what to do with my life; i choose to live far, far away from you...'  
  
"Hermione..." Her mother said in a soft voice. "Whatever you choose, we will support you the whole way." Hermione let a smile settle on her awkward mouth, hugged her mother tightly, and then kissed her father on the cheek.  
  
"I want to be a witch," Hermione said. 


	3. The train ride

It wasn't long before Hermione had all her schoolbooks and supplies. She insisted on getting them as soon as possible so she could begin discovering this new world that had opened up to her. The school's book list was dreadfully short, and had little information about the wizarding world as she wanted to know it, so she got a few extra books.  
  
Hermione didn't want to let her parents down. They knew she could succeed in anything she wanted in the muggle world, but she had to prove herself in the wizard world. She entertained her mother with simple bubble-making charms and received much praise from her father when she found, and managed to perform, a floss-creating charm (although she could only make about a foot of it at a time, and it wasn't waxed...).  
  
Soon, September 1st had nearly arrived and Hermione received a letter from Hogwarts. It contained her ticket for Kings Cross Station, and directions on how to get to platform 9 3/4.  
  
Hermione and her parents arrived at the platform nearly an hour before the train was scheduled to leave, but they weren't the only ones there. Many children and their families had arrived already.  
  
Butterflies began to flutter in Hermione's stomach as she absorbed the scene in front of her. Hogwarts was going to be so much different than what she was used to... she had never spent more than a couple weeks away from home and now she was gone until Christmas holidays. At her old school, she was able to at least go home in the late afternoon and spend some time alone with her books, which was exactly how she liked it.  
  
At Hogwarts, there was no home to go to.  
  
What if she got called names, like in her old school? What if she couldn't manage to make any friends? What if she could never catch up to the kids from wizarding families?  
  
'Calm down, Hermione!' she told herself as she loaded her belongings on board. 'You get to start a new life today...'  
  
Soon, it was ten minutes before the train was to depart. Hermione hugged her parents goodbye and watched as they cautiously walked through the brick wall and out of sight.  
  
Hermione turned around and was surprised to see that so many more people had arrived. Owls hooted here and there, a toad hopped around her feet, and she thought she saw a boy with a tarantula. She boarded, and chose a compartment around the middle of the train.  
  
Hermione sat alone for quite awhile. Her nervousness quickly translated into fear. 'Great,' she thought, 'what a way to spend my first day... alone.' She slouched in her seat and sighed a great sigh as the train's whistle signaled the departure.  
  
A while later the door to the compartment opened slowly, and Hermione sat up with a jolt.  
  
A short, round boy peeked around the door. "May I sit here?" His eyes were so sad, Hermione almost felt like crying herself, but instead answered "Of course," and cleared the seat across from her.  
  
"I'm Hermione Granger," She started, attempting to make eye contact with the boy, which was difficult since he stared at the floor sadly, as if the floor just told him his dog had died.  
  
"I'm Neville," the boy said and glanced up at Hermione with those dreadful eyes. "I've lost my toad, Trevor."  
  
Hermione couldn't imagine how someone could be so sad over, of all things, a missing toad. Still, she smiled and told him that Trevor was bound to show up sooner or later. Neville sighed and stared out the window.  
  
"I can't stand traveling," he explained as the rolling hills went by. "I'm going to miss Gran..."  
  
"Oh, you live with your grandmother?"  
  
"Yeah, I've lived with her forever." His mood seemed to lift slightly. "But I'm glad I made it into Hogwarts, Gran was afraid I might not have been accepted."  
  
"So you come from a wizarding family, I mean, since you obviously knew about Hogwarts before the letter came?"  
  
"Yup, my whole family are wizards and witches," Neville said as he fidgeted to get something out of his pocket.  
  
"Must be nice," Hermione said, half talking to Neville, half thinking aloud, "Nice not to have this whole world thrown on you instantaneously like it happened to me..." She looked up and saw what Neville had produced from his pocket. It was a small box labeled "Chocolate Frog." Neville looked at it sadly.  
  
"Trevor..." he sighed.  
  
Hermione couldn't really handle another unhappy conversation with anyone, so she stood up with determination. "I'll help you find him, Neville. He's got to be on the train somewhere."  
  
Hermione began to leave the compartment, but looked at her watch. She wasn't positive how long the journey would take, so she unfolded her school robes, fitted them on over her head, and made her way to the front of the train, to ask how much longer.  
  
"Not too long," a man in a red suit answered her, "an hour, maybe a little more." So Hermione began a search for the toad, asking everyone she could if they had seen a toad. She got strange looks from most everyone, so she tried to explain that it wasn't HER toad she'd lost, but a friend's.  
  
She made her way slowly towards the back of the train, unknowing that she would soon be meeting one of the most famous wizards of her time... 


	4. Meeting Ron and Harry

"Hey Hermione!" She heard Neville call from behind her. Hermione had reached the last few compartments in the back of the train, and had lost any real hope for finding Trevor  
  
"I've already asked there," said Neville, "They haven't seen him." He sighed and made his way forward.  
  
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. She didn't know if she should trust him to actually remember something...  
  
"I think so," he answered, but a look of uncertainty crossed his face. He scratched his ear, obviously trying to think. "We better check, just to make sure," he concluded.  
  
Hermione opened the door to a compartment littered with candy wrappers. She asked the two boys there if they had seen Neville's toad, when she spotted a wand in the taller boy's hand. Her eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then." Hermione was eager to see other people performing magic, apart from the moving pictures of wizards in her schoolbooks.  
  
The tall boy with brilliant red hair seemed nervous at her presence. He cleared his throat loudly and recited a ridiculous poem, attempting to change the color of his rat's fur. Hermione highly doubted it was even a spell (it didn't even make a very good poem).  
  
She began to tell the boys about how she tried some spells on her own and they worked, and how happy she was to have been accepted at Hogwarts. Taking a deep breath, Hermione realized that she hadn't properly introduced herself.  
  
"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She looked at them expectantly, but they didn't say anything. They glanced at each other curiously, and stared back at her. Hermione's heart was beating out of her chest. 'They don't like you!' her mind screamed, 'just walk away while you still have some dignity!'  
  
"I'm Ron Weasley," the redhead mumbled.  
  
"Harry Potter," said the boy with glasses, who Hermione had barely noticed. She looked at his forehead, but his bangs were in the way of the scar she knew he bore. "I've read all about you," She said, attempting to make the conversation a little more personal. She began to list the books he was mentioned in.  
  
"I'm in those?" He asked rather stupidly. Hermione thought he was acting strange just because she was there. She fought to keep the conversation going.  
  
"Do either of you know what house you'll be in?" She tried. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best." They didn't seem interested in Gryffindor... "I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad..."  
  
The boys just sat and watched her ramble on like an idiot. She decided it was time to stop the pathetic conversation and just leave. She told them she was going to go look for the toad, and that they should change soon, and walked out with Neville at her side.  
  
"Not very talkative, are they?" Neville commented. Hermione had forgotten Neville was even there. She heard the muffled sound of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's voices through the door. No, they seemed to be pretty talkative when she wasn't around.  
  
'See,' she told herself, 'you should have stayed home, your obviously not making friends very well. You should have just stayed home.' 


	5. Sorting

The unusually chilly September wind blew against the Hogwarts students' faces as they exited the train. Hermione was one of the last to step off the train. Excited voices echoed into the darkness, and one loud voice overpowered them all.  
  
"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" A ghost-like lantern lit the face of an enormous being. Hermione noticed straight away that it couldn't have been a man, for he was at least 10 feet tall. She huddled around the beast with the other first years, and trotted behind him when he led them to the boats. Hermione slipped on the rock and fell right into the boy in front of her. They stumbled together for a few seconds, shoes slipping wildly, but both managed to stay on their feet.  
  
"You okay?" He asked with a smile. Hermione realized he was holding her hand. His fingers wrapped around her own quite tightly, and weren't in a hurry to let go. She pulled away quickly, "I'm fine," and blushed furiously in the darkness.  
  
"Oooooooh!" everyone chorused, and Hermione jumped embarrassingly, thinking they saw what just happened, but realized that Hogwarts had just come into view.  
  
'Wow,' Hermione thought, her mind forgetting about the boy. It looked even more magical than in the pictures. A swarm of rowboats bobbed at the shore of the enormous lake.  
  
"No more'n four to a boat!" she heard. Neville appeared next to her, sniffing a little. They followed two people into a nearby boat. The lantern in the boat lit up their faces, and Hermione could see it was Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.  
  
The boat was off, and they all made their way to the castle. Hermione couldn't believe how still the water was, despite the disturbance of boats propelling through it. Hermione knew they were heading for the harbor located under the castle, she read about it in Hogwarts, a History.  
  
"You there! Is this your toad?" The tall man asked when they got to the shore. Hermione and Neville both turned to the voice with surprise. "TREVOR!" Neville cried and gathered his toad.  
  
"See," said Hermione with a nod, "I told you he would show up." They entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with excited nerves. All of them followed a Professor McGonagall into a small room where she explained which houses they were to be sorted into.  
  
Hermione's breath stopped in her lungs. She'd forgotten about the sorting ceremony. It failed to mention, in Hogwarts a History, how exactly the students were sorted into their houses. She knew that in order to be sorted into Gryffindor, she would have to display bravery and courage...  
  
Professor McGonagall left them alone, and Hermione began to think through her spell books. She heard Ron Weasley mention that a test was involved, and he should know, he has at least 3 older brothers. A test? Hermione held her breath, realizing that she had been muttering various spells she'd learned out loud as she thought of them.  
  
"Come along, now!" Professor McGonagall returned, "We're ready to begin the Sorting Ceremony." Hermione stepped into line right behind the boy who caught her as she fell. She tried to get into another spot before he noticed her, but he turned and smiled right at her. Hermione blushed again, this time more visibly, and they began to file into the Great Hall.  
  
The night sky stared down at them as they made their way between two of the four long tables. "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Hermione told the boy in front of her, "I read about it in Hogwarts, a History." She managed to say the entire thing without her voice shaking, a difficult task considering that every other part of her body was trembling with nerves.  
  
An old witch's hat was placed on a four-legged stool in front of everyone, and the room became very quiet. Hermione shifted her weight from one leg to the other, the only movement in what seemed like the entire hall.  
  
The hat sang a long song, but Hermione could barely pay attention. She was still thinking about spells and Gryffindor and the smiling boy who was now standing just the right of her.  
  
"...So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
  
And don't get in a flap!  
  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!" The hat sang.  
  
Hermione sighed with relief. Putting a hat on was more logical than making everyone perform spells.  
  
She sat impatiently as various students' names were called and sorted.  
  
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" was called. The smiling boy next to her stepped forward. The hat was placed on his head, and about five seconds went by before he was announced a Hufflepuff. She watched him walk to the Hufflepuff table, and for a fleeting moment, wished she could be in Hufflepuff, but then came back to her senses. Hermione couldn't let some small attraction towards a boy keep her from being in Gryffindor, the best house in Hogwarts.  
  
"Granger, Hermione!"  
  
Hermione forgot about Justin, and jumped into action (perhaps a little more quickly than she expected). She half skipped to the stool, high with adrenaline, and had the hat placed on her head.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted. Hermione smiled and took her place at the Gryffindor table. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so bad after all... 


	6. New Friends

The feast was so delicious; Hermione's mood lifted significantly. The warm food filled her up, and the intelligent conversation with Percy Weasley was a pleasant change from those she'd had on the train... she gave Ron and Harry a cold glance when they weren't looking. They'd ended up in Gryffindor, too, but they seemed to be acting a bit more kind then they were on the train.  
  
After the wonderful feast, Percy led the Gryffindors a long way through Hogwarts' stairs and secret passages. They finally made it to the Gryffindor Common room, very sleepy and full. Hermione groped along the wall and found her way up to the girls' dormitory. Her room had three four- poster beds with deep red curtains. Two giggly girls followed her in. Hermione knew they were Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil from when Professor McGonagall called them up to the sorting hat.  
  
"Hello," Hermione said. She yawned and pulled her bed's curtains apart.  
  
"Hi," said Lavender. "You're Hermione, right?"  
  
"Yes, Hermione Granger," she said, "Congratulations on being sorted into Gryffindor."  
  
"You too," Lavender smiled. The three of them got in their pajamas and crawled into bed, but a conversation began that kept the three of them up, sniggering all night.  
  
"Hehehe, I saw you fall into Justin Finch-Fletchley," Parvati giggled.  
  
"Oh, I hoped no one did," Hermione laughed embarrassedly. "I really just lost my footing..."  
  
"Sure..." Lavender smiled, "you lost your footing..."  
  
Hermione was so tired, but stayed up and talked with Parvati and Lavender for a long while. She was never invited to a slumber party in the muggle world, and this was the closest thing to it, in Hermione's mind. Several times, they had to stuff their pillows into their mouths to keep their laughs from being heard. Hermione's belly was aching from continuous laughter, an ache she had never experienced. They were finally quiet when the 5 th year prefect girl knocked on their door, and told them to go to bed.  
  
Hermione's head hurt from laughing, so she rested it on her pillow and began to fall asleep before she could even close her eyes.  
  
She dreamt of doing magic, and impressing her teachers, and laughing with her new friends over boys and such. She woke early the next day, anxious to begin her classes. She was down in the common room before anyone, and pulled out a book. She curled up into a chair that resembled the one from the library that she left back home.  
  
The smell of the book drew her in magically, and she waited for the rest of her classmates to awaken. 


	7. Flying Lesson

Hermione realized during her first few classes that she was going to have to really work hard this year in order to perform well. She witnessed Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher, turn into a cat, and turn her desk into a pig.  
  
Hermione knew in an instant that Transfiguration would be a useful tool in the wizarding world, and tried her hardest to change the match on her desk into a needle. It changed a bit, the end got pointed, and it got a little shiny, but it wasn't even close to looking like a needle as far as Hermione was concerned.  
  
Despite the fact that History of Magic was taught by a ghost, the creepiest class was Potions. It was set down in the dungeons, where chains hung from the ceiling and made clanging noises when there was a draft.  
  
The classes were fairly easy in the beginning. Hermione had read enough to be caught up with kids from wizarding families, (and sometimes a bit ahead of them).  
  
But, there was one class that Hermione was NOT looking forward to at all. Flying lessons. She was dreadfully afraid of heights, but most of all, she couldn't find a book anywhere that actually taught you how to fly. They all explained that every person's broomstick flying experiences are different, and the only way to learn is to try and fail, try and fail until you get it right. Failing wasn't on Hermione's list of things to do.  
  
That Thursday, the Gryffindors and Slytherins met outside on the grounds. Hermione walked with Lavender and Parvati and half-listened as they chatted about something that Seamus Finnigan had said to Lavender during lunch.  
  
Madam Hooch arrived and began the lesson in a hurry  
  
"Everyone stand by a broomstick." Hermione obeyed Madam Hooch and stepped forward. Her knees began to quaver as she stared at the broom.  
  
"Stick out your right hand..." Hermione tried to keep her hand steady, but her fingers seemed to have minds of their own. "...and say, 'UP'!"  
  
"Up!" Hermione said along with everyone, and her heart jumped when she saw her broom move, but sank again when it lulled back to the ground. She was embarrassed to see that a few people got their brooms on their first try. After a few more tries, it finally lifted very slowly from the ground and barely made it into her hand.  
  
"On my whistle, fly up a few feet, then come back down." Madam Hooch instructed. "Three, two..."  
  
Hermione felt a rush of air to her left, and turned to see that Neville, who was there a moment ago, had shot up toward the sun.  
  
"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouted.  
  
"Get down, Neville!" Hermione yelled, but she knew he was screaming to loudly to hear her. He fell off from about twenty-five feet, and landed with a crunch. Madam Hooch escorted him to the hospital wing, leaving the students out alone with their broomsticks.  
  
Hermione turned to talk to Parvati, but Parvati's attention was directed toward a Slytherin boy Hermione knew by sight as Malfoy.  
  
"Did you see his face, the great lump?" He jeered  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati shouted. Hermione could see this wasn't going to be good.  
  
Malfoy continued to insult the Gryffindors, and got into a squabble with Harry Potter about Neville's Rememberall. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Boys are so dumb...'  
  
Then, Malfoy mounted his broom and took off. Hermione couldn't believe he would deliberately disobey a teacher like that. Harry grabbed his broom, and Hermione jumped forward and grabbed his arm.  
  
"No!" She scolded, "you'll get us all into trouble!" It was one thing to disobey a teacher during a normal class, but flying was highly dangerous, and Harry said earlier he never flown before. If no one stopped him...  
  
Harry Potter ignored her warning and jumped onto the broom. 'What an idiot!' she thought to herself. Harry and Malfoy jeered at each other from their brooms, and Malfoy threw Neville's Rememberall way into the air.  
  
Hermione whipped out her wand and mumbled a few words, causing the ball to slow almost to a stop about a foot from the ground. Harry grabbed it a split second later, and toppled into the grass. Hermione saw Professor McGonagall and hid her wand in her robes quickly. No one had seen her wand, or noticed that the glass ball had magically hovered.  
  
Professor McGonagall was very upset at Harry, and took him off the field. Malfoy and his sidekicks were laughing hysterically when they left.  
  
"I'd like to see you do a trick like that, Malfoy!" Ron Weasley said to the sniggering boys. "You wouldn't be able to do something like that if your life as a wizard depended on it!"  
  
Hermione almost told Ron that Harry didn't even really do it himself, but then saw the face of the Slytherin boy. It gave her a kind of guilty pleasure to have helped make an unpleasant person like him so mad. 


	8. Chapter 8

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground, Malfoy…" Hermione heard Harry Potter saying. There three people between her and Harry, but if she turned her head so that her ear was towards them and the person next to her wasn't in the way, she could hear them perfectly. It was mealtime, and the Great Hall was filled with delicious smells, except the ones that seemed to be emanating from Malfoy's large friends.  
"I'd take you anytime on my own" Malfoy retorted. "Tonight, wizard's duel…" Hermione mentally pleaded with Harry not to accept, but Ron Weasley set it all up for him, and Malfoy left. 'Typical,' Hermione thought, 'They've gotten themselves into something really stupid.' She stood up and headed towards them.  
"Excuse me," she said.  
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron said.  
Hermione ignored him as best she could. She told Harry that it was really stupid and selfish to go breaking rules for something as trivial as a wizard's dual.  
"It's really none of your business," said Harry Potter.  
Hermione stared into his bright green eyes; she was in disbelief that someone could be so rude.   
"Good-bye," Ron said, and Hermione left. She walked towards the common room, her thoughts racing. She entered the portrait hole, and saw Percy Weasley there, studying. She almost sat down and told him what was going on, but stopped herself. She wasn't going to be a tattletale about this. She could handle this like a grown-up, she thought to herself, and went up to her room.   
When Lavender and Parvati drifted to sleep, Hermione put on her bathrobe, went to the common room and sat in the chair closest to the portrait hole. She wasn't positive what time they agreed on 'meeting' Malfoy, so she just sat.   
It was about an hour before she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Hermione was disappointed.  
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," she said. Ron was most displeased to see her. "I almost told your brother, the prefect" she said, trying to shut him up. They tried to ignore Hermione, but she wasn't going to let them act like fools that easily. She followed them out, trying to convince them that they weren't helping Gryffindor beat Slytherin, an argument that she was sure would work, but didn't.  
'Fine!' she thought, 'I've done all I could, and they're quite set on making fools of themselves.' She turned to go back through the portrait hole, but the fat lady was gone.  
Hermione's heart was racing, she didn't mean to follow them out, and now she was stuck! If she was caught… she didn't even want to think about what would happen. She watched Ron and Harry walk towards the end of the corridor. If she WAS caught, at least she could be caught doing something decent, like trying to stop the boys from breaking rules.  
"I'm coming with you," she said. "If I'm going to get caught, I'd rather be found trying to stop you two…"  
"You've got some nerve…" Ron interrupted.  
"Shut up, I heard something," Harry whispered. Hermione strained her ears for the faint tap of Mrs. Norris' paws, or the soft sucking sound of a ghost floating through a wall…  
It was Neville, who, like Hermione, was stuck without anywhere to go. Hermione wanted him to come along, because at least she liked Neville.  
"If either of you get us caught, I'll find out how to perform the Curse of the Bogies and use it on the both of you."  
"Be quiet!" Harry hissed, and they all walked down the corridor. They were headed toward the trophy room, where Malfoy told arranged the meeting… Hermione was very suspicious. She knew that they would get in a lot of trouble if they were caught, and she bet Malfoy knew that too. 'Of course!' she thought, 'He's probably told a teacher we're going to be in the trophy room…'  
Just then, they heard Filch's raspy voice talking to Mrs. Norris. They quietly tried to get away, but Neville crashed into a suit of armor making so much noise, the giant squid could probably hear it. They ran down a dark corridor and tried to open the door, but it was locked.  
Ron moaned helplessly as Hermione tried to get past him.  
"Move over!" she shoved him out of the way. She whipped out her wand. "Alohomora!" The spell worked, and the lock clicked open. They all rushed in and slammed the door, gasping for breath. Hermione turned and gasped. An enormous three-headed dog, about as tall as the ceiling, was looking at them curiously. The four of them had obviously surprised it. A glint of light caught Hermione's eye at the dog's feet. It was a handle… to a trapdoor?  
Harry and Ron turned to see the monster, and were speechless with fear. They opened the door, and ran out, with Neville and Hermione following. They ran all the way to the Fat Lady, who had thankfully returned.   
"Pig snout!" Harry supplied the password, and they all scrambled into the room.  
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a dog like that locked up in a school…" Ron was saying. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
"It's not just locked up! Didn't you see what it was standing on?"  
"Standing on!? I was a bit preoccupied with its heads!"  
"It was on a trapdoor! It's guarding something." There was a long silence. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."  
'What would they do without me?' Hermione thought, engulfed by the curtains of her four-poster. She drifted off to sleep, a difficult task, considering she was just face to face with a three-headed dog…  
  
As the weeks passed, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were becoming more and more rude to Hermione. She regretted ever talking to them on the train, and especially helping Harry catch the Remberall. He'd been invited to play on the house team because of that little stunt.   
Hermione sat in the library, practicing wand motions when the scene replayed in her head. It was because of HER that Harry Potter was on the quidditch team, she thought angrily as she waved her wand. A dozen books on the shelf in front of her plummeted to the floor.  
Hermione, quite thoroughly embarrassed, picked up the heavy volumes and placed them back on the shelf. She couldn't keep losing control like that. She had been messing up a lot lately in classes; spelling things wrong while taking notes, and she couldn't even remember what newts' eyes were used for during Potions.   
There were a lot of people watching her pick up the books. 'Why aren't they helping me?' she thought. She looked around and saw Justin Finch-Flechley, the Hufflepuff boy she met (or fell into) on the first day. He was looking right at her. She gave him a small smile, but he just laughed and whispered something into his friend's ear. Hermione looked away so that he wouldn't see her. Perhaps if she didn't see people talking about her, it wasn't really happening...  
She sighed as she returned the last book to its place and glanced at her watch. Charms was going to start soon, so Hermione gathered up her books and wand and made her way to Professor Flitwick's room.  
The corridors smelled of baking pumpkin, a special treat during meals since it was Halloween. Hermione was the first to arrive in Charms class (as usual) and took her seat. She absentmindedly handled the feather sitting on her desk.   
As students began to file into class, Hermione replaced the feather and opened her book. She didn't want to look Harry Potter or Ron Weasley in the eye if she could help it, her day was bad enough already.  
"Before you take your seats," tiny Professor Flitwick said, "I will pair you up so we can begin to apply our lessons on Levitation." Hermoine thought it best if she was placed with Neville (he couldn't even remember what 'levitation' was) but Professor Flitwick paired her up with Ron Weasley.  
Hermione was very upset. She had resolved, ever since last talking to Harry about being on the quidditch team, not to talk to either of them. Ron didn't seem too thrilled to be her partner either, but Hermione decided to try and make the best of it.  
"Okay, Ron, you try it first," she prompted him. He rolled up his sleeves, bellowed "Wingardium Leviosa!" and began waving his wand like a muggle musical conductor.   
Hermione dropped her head into her hands. Had he been sleeping all week? He wasn't doing the right wand movement, he wasn't saying the words right... Hermione sighed; it was going to be a long class.  
"You're still saying it wrong, you need to accentuate the 'o' in Leviosa." Hermione explained (for the third time).  
"I haven't seen you try it at all!" Ron said defiantly. "YOU do it if you're so clever."  
Hermione swished and flicked, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather came to life and began to float over the desk. Hermione couldn't help herself and gave Ron her best 'I-told-you-so' look. Ron began to pout like a 5 year old, Hermione couldn't believe how immature he was.   
As they filed out of class, Ron and Harry were right in front of her. The corridors were unusually crowded, so she was a lot closer to them then she would have liked.  
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," she heard Ron telling Harry. She wished she wasn't hearing this... "She's a nightmare, honestly!"   
It was too much. Not only did these boys seem to go out of their way to make her feel unwelcome, they didn't even bother to wait until she was out of earshot to insult her. She felt a hot tear run down her cheek. Her hand shot up to whisk it away, but more started pouring down. She put her face in her hands, and started running into the crowd, pushing people out of the way.   
She made it to the girl's bathroom, and threw her books down. Hermione looked at her face in the mirror. Her eyes were red, and her eyelashes were sticking together because of her tears. She wished she was at home; Hermione missed her parents terribly.  
She opened a stall door, and took out some toilet paper. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, trying to make herself presentable for her next class. Hermione was about to leave for Transfiguration, when the tears turned on again. She went to the corner and sat down on the cold tile, drawing her knees up to her chest.  
Hermione simply skipped her next class. It was quite unlike her, and she knew someone would be coming to look for her soon. She hid in one of the stalls and sat on the toilet.  
Parvati came in. "Hermione? Are you in here?"  
Hermione tried to stay quiet, but she sniffed involuntarily.  
"Hermione what's wrong?" Parvati tried to open the stall, but it was locked. "You can't stay in there forever."  
Hermione knew that was true, but still wished it weren't.  
"The Halloween feast is starting soon, don't you want some baked pumpkin?" Hermione was getting hungry, but couldn't stand seeing Harry or Ron again.  
"I'm not hungry," she lied. Parvati left, letting Hermione come back out of the stall. She sat back down in her corner, and rummaged around her bag for a snack or something to eat.   
She found a melted chocolate frog at the bottom, and scooped the chocolate out with her fingers. It was nice not having anybody around, Hermione thought as she threw the chocolate frog box away. She was still very hungry, and could smell the delicious food from the corridor. She inhaled deeply through her nose to try and imagine what foods were down there...  
"Bleah!" Hermione coughed. The smell that met her nose was not of pumpkin or potatoes, but something that smelled faintly like sewage. 'Great,' Hermione thought, 'one of the toilets is backed up.' She began to gather her things from the corner, when she felt the floor tremble slightly. She heard loud breathing coming from the doorway.  
Hermione turned around to see what was there. Her eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. She rubbed them with her hands, making sure that what she was seeing was real, and not some terrible nightmare.   
It was a troll! A full-grown mountain troll, and it was in the girl's bathroom! Hermione backed into the corner, watched helplessly as the troll stuck its nose toward the garbage can.  
'Oh no!' Hermione thought, 'The chocolate!" She looked at her fingers in dismay. They were covered with sticky chocolate. The troll must have smelled her, because he made his way further into the bathroom, right towards Hermione.   
He was almost blocking the doorway completely, but there was a chance that Hermione could run past him and out the door. She knew that they were awfully slow, so she held her breath, and tensed up her legs, ready to sprint.  
Just then, the door to the bathroom slammed shut, and Hermione heard the lock click over the raspy breathing of the troll.   
'NO!' Hermione's thoughts screamed. The troll advanced on her slowly. 'I'm locked in a bathroom with a troll... I mustn't panic,' Hermione tried to rationalize, and did the thing that seemed most logical at the time... she screamed at the top of her lungs. There was nothing she could do. The monster carried a club bigger than Hermione herself, and he used it to destroy one of the porcelain sinks.  
Hermione felt all her blood sink into her legs. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe. This troll was extremely strong, and she was just a young girl...  
Just then, the door clicked open. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter dashed into the room and began to throw things at the back of the troll's head. The troll turned from Hermione and made towards Ron. Harry ran behind it and grabbed Hermione.  
"Come on, run, RUN!" He said. Hermione tried to run, but she couldn't feel her legs anymore. Her vision became blurred. All she could feel was the cold wall behind her, which seemed to be sucking the warmth from her body.  
She watched in horror as Harry jumped onto the troll's neck. She couldn't see what was going on very well, but she heard the troll's agonizing howl of pain, and felt cold air rush by as the club nearly came in contact with her head.  
Hermione sunk to the floor and closed her eyes, minimizing the chance of her getting hit with the club.  
"Wingardium Leviosa!!!" she heard echo through the bathroom.  
It was Ron who said those words, and Hermione could only hope that they had worked. She heard a bone-chilling CRACK and a loud thump. It became very quiet, other than the soft spray of water expelling from the broken sinks. She opened her eyes and saw the troll sprawled on the ground, with a slender piece of wood up its nose.   
"Is it... dead?" Hermione heard herself ask. She was in a daze.   
"Urgh! Troll boogers!" Harry said as he took his wand out of the troll's nose.  
A stampede of footsteps outside the doorway made the three of them look up. Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell entered.  
"What on earth!?" Professor McGonagall began, "Explain yourselves!"  
Against her better judgment, Hermione stood up and walked forward with shaking legs. "It was my fault, Professor McGonagall" she said.  
"I went looking for the troll, because I've read all about them," Hermione lied, but couldn't look Professor McGonagall in the eyes.  
"Miss Granger, you foolish girl," she heard, "How could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own!?"  
Hermione desperately wanted to say it wasn't her... but remembered what Harry and Ron had done for her. She hung her head guiltily, and took the reprimand from Professor McGonagall until she was dismissed.  
As she made her way to the dormitory, Hermione thought of the events that just took place. Harry and Ron had risked their lives... for her. No one had ever done that before. Perhaps Ron Weasley and Harry Potter weren't as bad as she thought they were... 


End file.
